Category: Technology

Categories
Blockchain Financial Services Technology

Blockchain ecommerce is keeping the secondary luxury market honest

Florian Martigny, founder of Hong Kong-based platform Luxify plans to launch a new standard in blockchain ecommerce. Espeo Blockchain consultants laid out ways the company can leverage the technology and corner the pre-owned luxury goods market. We’d like to share how we did it and what we learned from the project. 

If you’re a bargain hunter with expensive tastes, finding a legitimate seller can be a challenge. At the same time, legitimate re-sellers face a suspicious customer base. This feedback loop limits demand and drive prices down. We’re helping Luxify and their network of pre-owned dealers change this. A blockchain marketplace can help verify and track luxury items — such as art or real estate — making the assets much easier to buy and sell.

Pain points

Luxify already connects affluent buyers with luxury retailers. We found that counterfeit goods pose a real risk to the business. Knock-off watches or forged handbags can make their way into the system limiting consumer trust. Ordering online takes a leap of faith. As ecommerce grows globally, the industry needs effective ways to fight fakes.  The blockchain authentication system we proposed will help close the trust gap. If there is one thing that blockchain technology excels at it’s establishing immutable records among key stakeholders who may not otherwise trust each other or share information. Blockchain ecommerce will boost trust and attract more consumers.

Martigny reached out to Espeo Blockchain with one question: how can blockchain help my business? His experience running Luxify gives him a unique view of the market. Through our consulting project, we answered his questions and delivered a solid business plan for a blockchain authentication solution. Our proposal lays out a system to verify brand authenticity, track ownership, and protect the value of items through tokenization.

Luxify blockchain ecommerce

Since 2013, Luxify has been a market for new and used luxury goods. The company plans to meet the ever-growing demand for high-end western brands, especially in Asia. The company’s mission is to be the first to innovate luxury ownership by establishing an integrated mechanism for authenticity and traceability. However, blockchain is not a solution in itself — only a tool to streamline the business.

Customers ready to spend want stronger guarantees. Deep cooperation between the Luxify platform as well as a network of external sellers and experts help establish credibility. ERC-721 tokens do the rest. Our plan for a blockchain marketplace uses these to transfer ownership. Experience with fakes on other online platforms limits the overall market. Tech innovation especially blockchain will help the market expand.

Market Challenges

One of the main threats facing the $1.2 trillion luxury industry is as I mentioned counterfeit goods. Whole workshops of counterfeiters have perfected their techniques to roll out a steady stream of imitations. To the untrained eye, they’re hard to spot. While some of the existing methods to verify and trace luxury goods are somewhat adequate, they’re not particularly scalable. The profit from producing counterfeit products keeps pace with the overall luxury market giving an ever-increasing incentive to traffic fakes.

This not only erodes consumer trust but also helps fund criminal networks. Despite efforts to combat the spread of fakes, online retailers such as Amazon and Alibaba are still plagued by counterfeiting. Efforts to limit the spread so far are ineffective or simply don’t scale. They mostly involve banning scam sellers from the platform, which is not sustainable. Market forces are far more effective at deterring the practice.

With these challenges in mind, blockchain consultants Francois Devillez and Marcin Zduniak dove in laying the groundwork for a workable blockchain solution. Devillez recalled the project saying he always wants to know what product the market needs before starting a consulting project.

“Don’t try to disrupt a whole market,” he said. “Try to find your niche. If blockchain tech can help your business, then we can work on that, but if blockchain is not necessary, I don’t hesitate to say it.”

Obviously, by the consultation phase, we already have a pretty good idea that blockchain is a good fit for the client. For a luxury good ecommerce platform such as Luxify the lack of trust between buyer and seller is the major stumbling block — something we can solve. Everything else comes down to scalability.

Blockchain authentication

Over several days of consultation, Devilez and Zduniak crafted a tailor-made pitch deck for Martigny finding the best way for him to launch a blockchain ecommerce network. While he had a vision for using blockchain tech, refining this vision into a workable solution was our goal. Questions about public/private blockchains and STO/no STO were vital.

Of course, due to the counterfeiting and consumer trust issue, blockchain technology addresses a real market need. Verifying authenticity and establishing a clear ownership history helps to increase this trust. But how will the company actually do it? For digital assets, tokenization makes sense, but tracking physical assets with blockchain proved more challenging and still requires a level of centralization. One of our proposals is for the company to hire a team of vetted experts that they can send to sellers, verify the pricey watch is authentic, apply a tamper-proof RFID tag, and create an ERC-721 token to represent ownership.

We chose the RFID route precisely because an attempt to remove one breaks it and renders it useless. This solves the problem of trying to transfer the tag to a counterfeit item. Solutions like this already exist without the need for blockchain technology, of course. However, the real business value comes from the fact that only one expert needs to authenticate an item one time. Once approved, it will be on the blockchain ecommerce platform forever. Instead of hiring experts every time you’d like to sell your watch, you only need to do it once. This both reduces the cost and time of buying and selling luxury items.

Technical solutions

Our proposal for a blockchain marketplace uses Ethereum to handle transactions on the blockchain authentication system. Ethereum offers a robust network we’ve used for many of our clients. In terms of Ethereum scalability, we proposed using Plasma techniques to maintain asset storage. Platforms such as the Loom Network use similar solutions with sidechains to maintain a safe state of token assets.

Luxify tokens themselves will be non-fungible ERC-721 tokens which represent item ownership. As mentioned above, RFID tags attached by a team of experts will establish authenticity and enter the asset onto the blockchain ecommerce registry. Users will also have to keep their tokens in a wallet. We proposed a wallet integrated into a UX-friendly React native mobile application. This will reduce the time of development considerably.

Conclusion

We believe that Luxify and their partners will corner the luxury market with their blockchain marketplace. Our consultations with Martigny allowed us to get a better grasp of what the company would like to do with blockchain technology, and how to best achieve these goals together. Espeo Blockchain consultants produced a detailed pitch deck to show to investors. Having a clear, detailed plan allows the company to set development milestones and calculate ROI.

Luxify and a network of re-sellers are leveraging blockchain technology to cut down on fake goods and introduce greater trust into the market. Their first-mover advantage sets them apart in the region allowing them to reach their target ahead of the competition. Ecommerce will greatly benenfit from blockchain authentication — especially in the luxury sector. While blockchain technology is not a cure-all for every business, authenticity and traceability challenges make the second-hand luxury market a solid use case.

Thinking of leveraging blockchain in your business? Reach out to us for valuable insights into this fast-paced ecosystem.

Categories
Blockchain Healthcare Technology

Blockchain in healthcare: how the technology could fix the industry in 2020

If you’ve spent any amount of time in a hospital, you’ve had first-hand experience with the inefficiencies of the healthcare system. Just about everyone has a story or two about red tape. More than being irritating, this friction raises prices, lowers patient satisfaction, and can even put people’s health at risk.

Many tout the benefits of blockchain technology in healthcare data management and the overall patient experience. But let’s take a closer look. What can blockchain actually do for healthcare technology? What will it not do? Is blockchain technology a good fit?

Establishing trust in healthcare technology

Like many blockchain use cases, the first benefit for the healthcare industry is removing the need for trust. In a previous blog post, developer Michał Chatłas took a hard look at blockchain and whether it’s really worth it. “Blockchain technology is beneficial in specific industries where people can’t trust one another,” he wrote. “By design, blockchains establish trust through cryptography. Parties don’t have to trust each other or third parties.” Strong use cases exist in industries where smart contracts can help verify data. Limiting access to sensitive records is another useful feature.
Some startups have begun leveraging blockchain technology to address some healthcare data management challenges. London-based MedicalChain has developed a platform for patients to control access to their medical records. PokitDok’s DokChain hopes to facilitate data exchange across the healthcare landscape. Mediledger, meanwhile, is tracking and verifying medicine in similar ways as you might track food or airplane parts in the supply chain.

Distributed data

At first glance, distributed ledger technology appears to benefit the healthcare industry by storing patient data in all the nodes of a blockchain platform. Allowing hospitals, insurance companies, and patients access to medical records may benefit the industry as a whole. getting everyone on the same page would ease some of the industry’s pain points. Blockchain-based healthcare technologies could significantly reduce the time to track down information across systems.
Currently, patient records exist on centralized databases. It’s unclear how secure these databases are and who has access. Hackers are increasingly targeting healthcare institutions to steal valuable data. A blockchain-based platform could provide a useful tool for controlling who should, and who shouldn’t see patient data.

Patient satisfaction

Consumers would not be the only ones who benefit, however. Hospital administration could check insurance information and see which procedures are covered. Insurance companies could track procedures and automatically pay healthcare providers for services instead of waiting for someone to enter it manually. Increased efficiency and savings will, in theory, optimize the industry and pass savings to people.
Lead blockchain developer at Espeo, Krzysztof Wędrowicz offered an example of a medical emergency. “Let’s say you go on vacation and you break your leg,” he said. “It’s really hard [for the distant hospital] to get your medical history and insurance information quickly. Of course, when you have a broken leg your doctor wants to repair it as fast as possible.” The doctor may have to make quick health decisions that your insurance does not pay for.
In addition to treating a medical emergency, the hospital also needs to determine where to send the bill, or else eat the losses. This uncertainty in the system creates a lot of redundant work and could put people’s health at risk. A blockchain platform which coordinates patient records, a history of procedures, and insurance claims could greatly reduce redundancies and prevent losses. It will also improve the healthcare business model as well as patient experience.

Healthcare data management and confidentiality

However, keeping confidential medical records on a fully auditable, transparent ledger raises privacy concerns. A tech-savvy person could connect the dots. Every person accessing patient records would become a point of weakness. While no one would be able to change entries without consensus, anyone could see the entry. Seeing when and where a transaction occurred could cause significant problems for medical confidentiality.
Take abortion as an extreme example. In countries where the procedure is criminalized regardless of where the procedure occurred, investigators could find out. Even where it is legal, attackers could still use the data for malicious ends. Controlling who sees medical data and for how long through encryption is key.
Wędrowicz believes the benefits outweigh the negatives. Private, permissioned blockchains such as Hyperledger fabric or Corda would be the best fit in blockchain-based healthcare. Permissioned blockchains allow companies or consortiums of companies to set rules for who gets access to data on the blockchain. Though you would still need to trust everyone with permission.

Leveraging blockchain in healthcare

As I mentioned earlier, some startups have started to apply private blockchains in the healthcare industry. London-based startup MedicalChain aims to give patients full control over their medical data. In an interview over Telegram, communications manager, Tim Robinson explained the company offers a new paradigm of transparency to patients.
“MedicalChain safeguards sensitive information by encrypting all data through the platform,” he said. “Hyperledger Fabric provides the means for an advanced access control mechanism, so that patients can be in full control of their data and who has access to this… Every transaction will be logged on the blockchain, including the individuals who gained access to this, at what time, and what data [was accessed].”
Patients give their explicit consent and can revoke it as they wish. People can also proactively grant access to specialists or healthcare establishments in case they’re incapacitated. Of course, the decision is still the patient’s decision. “[Users] take responsibility should this not be provided, ” said Robinson.
“To mitigate the chances of access being denied in emergency situations, we can set the platform up so that permission is an opt-in service (which is much more in line with what presently happens) at the discretion of the user, as opposed to an opt-out setup, where blanketed permission is the default.”
Users’ next of kin can also grant access as long as the patient has set it up that way. Robinson contends that it is a much more patient-centric model than what currently exists. 

Lingering challenges

It’s important to remember that a blockchain is only a tool, one that would still need oversight and ethical guidelines. Determining who has access and for how long is vital in healthcare data management. Allowing healthcare professionals to quickly and easily access this information while also controlling distribution is one of blockchain’s lingering challenges.
The potential for entering false data or recording a misdiagnosis is still there, but at least data would remain in one accessible place. One specific aspect that blockchain would excel at in healthcare data management is maintaining data integrity. Unauthorized edits or deletions would not occur without a timestamp.
Forbes contributor Robert Lord wrote that one of blockchain’s advantages is that it would fight against integrity-based attacks. Careless insiders or hackers could cause patient safety issues and call an institution’s reputation into question. “Blockchain technology is an excellent counter to these integrity-based attacks, he wrote, “and it’s a good forward-looking tool we might deploy to address them.” Blockchain establishes a fully auditable immutable record of changes.

Conclusion

Healthcare’s complex web of actors makes it a compelling use case for blockchain technology. Stakeholders who don’t cooperate and who don’t necessarily trust each other could benefit from a decentralized healthcare data management platform. Blockchain could empower patients by allowing them to control access to medical records. Ensuring data integrity and making it considerably cheaper to send and receive medical data are two of the most compelling cases.
As with any new technology, there are major trade-offs to consider. While keeping medical records in one place would greatly reduce the time and cost to track it down, it also raises privacy concerns. Maintaining data integrity is one of its most powerful features blockchain tech offers so far. Savings for healthcare providers, insurance companies, and consumers could spur widespread adoption. Until then, prices will continue to rise, and patients health will suffer.

Categories
Software Technology

Client and Server Side Rendering Static Site Generators

Client and Server Side Rendering Static Site Generators

In the last few years the popularity of Single Page Applications has slightly increased. Before the SPA revolution, the majority of application logic was done back-side with some AJAX additions and the user interface improvements were done by JavaScript. Due to the fact that only a small piece of content was added asynchronously almost the whole content was rendered Server-side and available even while browsing without JavaScript.

When the SPA application appeared, in the era of Backbone JS, Ember and Angular, the first versions of all search engines crawlers were clear. None of them supported javascript rendering. Crawlers were just receiving the content rendered by servers and indexed by web pages which ended up with a terrible SEO so common while relying on javascript too much. Technology is evolving very fast, so a question arises whether the SEO problem is still valid for SPA applications in 2018/2019.

What is SSR? Do we need it?

SSR stands for Server-Side Rendering. It is a way to prerender parts of the application on the server like in a classical back-end language. A browser makes a request to a server, the server runs application pre-rendering, as it goes, and responds with a generated html. On the browser site the JS logic is automatically attached to the rendered state and the application can used as usual.
On the opposite end, we have Client-Side Rendering which is a standard method for all SPA frameworks. Such applications generate whole content in the browser runtime. Typically the client-side applications receive from the server a basic html structure with an empty placeholder “div” where all application components will be rendered.

There is also a third method similar to Server-Side Rendering called Static Site Generation. Although it may be confused with SSR, but the idea is a bit different. With this method during a building phase  html files are generated which will be served from the server. Such html files can be effective at rendering hundreds of components which will take time if done on client-side.The application can be pre-rendered once in a specific state, only to send it to the end user in simple html files in the fastest way possible while using http hosting.

We have 3 options to choose from. So, which one I should use?
Each option is used in specific cases and fulfils different needs. Let’s hope the following paragraphs will help you choose the best one.

Which solution I should use?

Client side rendering, server side rendering, static site generators

The infographic below shows a general idea behind each approach. The final effect is the same: fully functional application. The difference is in a way it is achieved.

At a first glance, all three graphics look almost the same with the same number of steps. The key difference is timing for each action. In client-side rendering, application stays long in the “loading” state, while it is making ajax request for necessary data, compiling views and injecting everything into DOM. Server load will be small even for a considerable number of requests. The browser side is overloaded with work which may even work longer and slower on weak computers or phones.

For server-side rendering most work is on the server-side, which does most of the job. The server executes the application code and generates html based on it in order to create a response.
After that the browser will need to attach all the events to the existing html, create virtual DOM etc. When does the server-side work the most? If the server is not powerful enough, the response time may increase slightly. With the server-side rendering we need to think how much traffic the application will generate and whether the server is able to handle it fast.

The third option is to use Static Site Generator which is the fastest one. The server just sends previously prepared html. On the browser side the framework that is being used is attached to the existing structure, as a result the application is ready to use. Neither the server nor the browser is excessively overloaded.

Let’s make a small comparison table for all the 3 solutions:

ProblemClient-Side renderingServer-Side RenderingStatic Site Generators
Social media sharing⛔??
SEO, search engines❓it’s complicated 🙂??
High traffic?⛔?
Frequently changed dynamic content??❓it depends
Easy to implement?⛔❓it depends

Quick notes about the above points:
In the case of social media sharing like Facebook or Twitter, they don’t execute javascript. With the client-side generated application there is always the same set of OG tags and meta properties, there is no possibility to share a specific page/route in our application/website. If social sharing is a must, then it is better to choose SSR or Static Site Generators.

SEO remains a big mystery. A few years ago the situation was clear because none of the the search engines  understood javascript. So, no content rendered client-side was indexed. The situation changed once Google announced that their crawler would finally render javascript. (The following paragraphs will contain small test to check them out). With SSR and Static Site Generators we are certain  that the content will be indexed, whereas in the case of CSR it’s a bit more complicated issue 🙂

For high traffic websites it is always  better to put as much as possible to the client, and CSR seems to be a reasonable option.

Static Site Generators don’t work well with a dynamic content because all html files are created much too often. Naturally, there can be parts which don’t change, to fully render the server-side and the dynamic ajax content on the client-side, in such a case Static Site Generators will do the job.

The easiest option to implement is a standard SPA app done client-side without any additions. With server-side rendering we have to maintain server part, which may be tricky based on solutions. With Static Site Generators depending on the chosen framework, the implementation will take as much as for client-side but with some additions.

How do crawlers work?

Crawlers are automated scripts which browse www to collect information about web pages and the connections between them. They are connected with search engines and pass on information to them. Based on the knowledge web crawlers/spiders collected search engines decide on the order in which search results appear.

Historically, no crawlers were executing javascript. Client-side rendered application was not indexed at all. The situation changed a little when Google announced that crawlers they were going to use execute javascript. It was great news but let’s remember there is world outside Google. And, there are more search engines on the market such as: Bing, Yahoo, Ask.com, Baidu, Yandex, DuckDuckGo and others.

According to market share calculations Google powered 76% of all searches. It means that 24% of searches around the web are done with different engines! How should we know how they will see our pages?  Here you can find fantastic tests with different frameworks and the most popular search engines. The results of this comparison are clear: only Google and Ask.com understand javascript and are able to index client-side rendered application correctly.

While creating a an application constantly ask yourself a question whether it is fine to be indexed only by Google and Ask.com or maybe it would be a good idea to consider other search engines on the market.

How will Google crawler see my page?

A while ago Google provided a great tool for developers in order to check how Google bots/crawlers can see our web pages. With just a few simple steps we can run a diagnostic of our page and see whether all information that is posted  is correctly rendered by the bot script. Bots may either reject some external scripts that are included or not render something if the execution time is too long. Unfortunately, there are no similar tools for other search engines and the developers learn about their functionality only from experiments like the one linked in the previous chapter.

Let’s test few simple examples using fetch as google tool. In the experiment we will check how Google render client-side rendered React application in different configurations.
Google needs to verify you as the owner of a webpage to be rendered by bot. There are multiple methods to achieve this. The simplest one requires uploading a file to the server or adding a special meta tag to the webpage.

Test 1 – a simple React application with nested components

Test 1 - a simple React application with nested components

The above example simple application with 2 nested components is being rendered by displaying image from an external link and a simple text. Everything is correctly rendered by Google bot. This proves that Google can handle correctly such a simple javascript rendered app.

Test 2 – a React application with a content loaded by slow AJAX response

Test 2 - a React application with a content loaded by slow AJAX response

In the above example there is an extended application from the previous example which adds a third component by requesting content from the server by using ajax request. The example adopted NASA api and it also added a small delay of 5-6 seconds for the content to be available the the application. When the content is ready both the image url and the simple text paragraph are rendered. Looks like again the bot has handled it correctly.

Test 3 – a React application with a very slow AJAX request

Test 3 - a React application with a very slow AJAX request

In the third example the first problem occurs 10 seconds have been added to the loading time for the AJAX response. The component is not rendered at all and it was skipped by Google bot. The example has used a single AJAX request with long loading time which probably would never happen in reality. But what about having a very complex application which has been created from hundreds of components and has relied on multiple external data endpoints? If there are some who require all Promises to be resolved then it is possible to end up with the same situation as the one above, some parts of the content will not be available for Google crawler and will not be indexed. In such a situation the only solution is to pre-render  SSR or Static Site Generators.

Summary

While developing a new Single Page Application we should carefully think over our needs. If we are going to implement an internal application, the admin panel where user needs to log in, we don’t need to worry about SEO, indexing or the social media stuff, client-side rendered application will do it for us.
Taking social media sharing into consideration use specific Open Graph tags for particular pages, having different titles and descriptions for each page etc. requires SRR or Static Site Generators. Social media tools don’t execute javascript so replacing meta information for specific routes will not be possible.

When we want to develop a website which should be indexed by search engines we need to be careful. If we only care about Google we can write client-side rendered application and in order to make sure that everything will be correctly indexed we should frequently check with fetch as google tool. Too long loading/rendering times may result in a part of the content not being indexed at all. If we need to support other search engines, the only solution will be to go for SSR or Static Site Generators solutions, because they are not prepared to oversee javascript applications.

While choosing between SSR and Static Site Generators we should consider how often our data will change. If we implement a highly static website we can choose one of the existing solutions for Static Site generators and develop our website in the technology we love to work with.

There are multiple libraries providing SSR and Static Site Generators solutions for top SPA frameworks. There are solutions for React, Vue or Angular. What are the differences and how to use them. Hope the lecture of my next article will help you choose proper tool for your next application.

See also:

Categories
Software Technology

TOP 5 Analytics tools to Measure App Success

TOP 5 Analytics tools to Measure App Success

Measuring app’s success helps you keep track of its performance and valuation for your app. There are different metrics you can use to measure the app’s success. However, you might also consider using analytics tools, which provide more credible results by eliminating the human error.

Before deciding which analytical tool is best for you, it would be a good idea to learn about different types of analytics tools and how they operate,  this knowledge will prove beneficial to make an informed choice.

Basically, there are major types of analytics tools; marketing analytics, in-app analytics and performance analytics.

1. App marketing analytics

This type of analytics helps you discover ways to monetize your app. How do users discover and learn about your app? Do they find it while browsing an application store or maybe somewhere else, e.g. on other websites?

2. In-app analytics

In-app analytics focuses on user behavior within the application. What do they do once they have opened your app? Do they, for example, click on the ads? The data you collect and analyze concerning your users will be huge help in the post-publishing development phase of your app. This could give you an insight into the most frequent and most valuable users.

3. App performance analytics

App performance analytics deals with the mechanical part of the application. The tool  identifies factors and malfunctions which cause your application to crash. Which devices register slow crawl and so forth.

This kind of analysis plays an important role because without it the app would be doomed.

How to go about selecting app analytics tools? There are many factors to consider, some are basic such as:

  • Key features – Some features are universally provided by most platforms. What makes this particular tool stand out? Does  it offer A/B testing, for example?
  • App needs – What kind of analytics do you need? If your app is very original then you might want to consider customizable metrics instead of the standardised ones.
  • Level of support –  Will the tool be helpful and reliable when things go south? Do they have an active customer care?
  • Size of  SDK –  How easy is the implementation process? Remember to choose the one that is simple to implement and not too complicated to master. Some SDKs can slow your app down and, as a result, reduce  its performance.
  • Cost – You can find platforms in various price tiers. Choose the one that is within your budget but also has all the features that you need.

Bearing all these elements in mind below you will find a list of top 5 app analytics tools.

1. Google Analytics for mobile

Google Analytics Logotype

Digital marketers may know Google Analytics as a website analytics tool but what they may not know is that it can be used as an app analytics tool. Some aspects such as user engagement can be tracked and measured with Google Analytics providing a very deep and valuable insight into the app visitors’ behaviour.

Google offers in-app analytics for both Android and iOS.

Pros of Google Analytics

  • Helps to understand the app user characteristics, traffic sources and volume
  • Shows what actions your users are taking
  • Measures in-app payments and revenue
  • Customizes reports specific to your business
  • Visualizes user navigation paths
  • Chunks and structures your data to understand different user groups’ behavior and enables you to isolate the user behavior thanks to the User Explorer Report

One major disadvantage of Google Analytics is that it’s not the most user friendly tool to use. It lacks support service in case something goes wrong, so you’ll have to go through tutorials and search for answers on your own.

2. Flurry

Flurry logotype

Flurry.com has been acquired by Yahoo Developer Network and is now the oldest mobile app analytics tool. It comes with many advantages and is absolutely free for iOS, Android as well as Blackberry. Flurry offers basic features necessary to manage and monitor the performance of your app.
The tool enables you to view the user’s experience in real time and as a result an insight into the user’s behavior.

Pros of  Flurry:

  • Provides user acquisition analytics
  • Displays data on the number of app sessions
  • Gives an accurate volume of active users, the demographics and frequency of use
  • Monitors add performance
  • Offers funnel management
  • Measures app retention

3. Mixpanel

Mixpanel logotype

Mixpanel has gained the trust of AirBnB, WordPress as well as match.com users. One of the strongest points of the tool is the installation speed, which is just under ten minutes. In addition, it is filled with analytical tools. Mixpanel supports both iOS and Android.
This particular analytical tool has a free plan as well as plans going up to $999 per month.

Pros of Mixpanel

  • Offers A/B testing
  • Gives app retention performance reports
  • Provides activity feeds and enables you to track revenue
  • Provides people analytics
  • Funnel  management
  • Targeted push messaging is enabled
  • Measures retention rate

Although it is a freemium, it is worth noting that the free version is limited to 25,000 data points per month.

4. Appsee

Appsee logotype

Appsee offers developers qualitative mobile app analytics. The insights are visual and may include videoing user behavior during sessions. This includes every action and activity  carried out by the user, it is automatically captured and tagged by Appsee’s technology. It has been recognized by Gartner as the leader of qualitative analytics.
The touch heat maps allow developers to see in-app user behavior comprehensively. This includes small details such as swipes which are displayed in color-codes. This app offers a 14-day trial after which the tool rolls into the premium version.

Pros of Appsee

  • Seamless integration (5 min)
  • Touch heat maps
  • Records user sessions
  • Provides crash reports
  • Offers retention analytics
  • Action cohorts
  • Retention analytics

Cons of Appsee

  • There is no freemium, just a free trial

5. Localytics

Localytics logotypes

If you are looking for smart targeting of your audience as well as marketing automation, then Localytics is you for you. It offers a diversity of features, both traditional and modern ones. Apart from the app analytics tools, Localytics is known for its personalization capabilities, which are achieved by targeted in-app messaging and push messages.
It also helps you re-engage with those who have uninstalled your app in order to convince them to come back and reinstall your app.
It comes with both free and paid subscription plans tailored to  your needs and budget.

Pros of Localytics:

  • Uninstall Tracking
  • Targeted in-app messaging
  • Push messaging
  • Funnel management
  • Life-time value tracking
  • Retention analytics
  • Enables A/B testing

It is worth noting that there are no funnels in the free version.

Conclusion

Technology evolves every day. Therefore, new app analytical tools are introduced every day. If you consider the criteria that the app has to meet, then the question which one to choose in this diverse and large market shall be an easy one. Choose the one that gives you the features which you need but is within your budget. On top of everything, choose the one that is easy to navigate. The above top 5 mobile app analytics tools have various features – so the choice is yours.

See also: